I am fond of proclaiming Frontline as one of public television’s premier documentary series.
The Knight Foundation has affirmed the long-held view by media watchers and critics of the series’ value to public affairs and educational programming.
The foundation awarded Frontline a $250,000 grant to honor its commitment to excellence in journalism.
That means Panhandle PBS viewers will reap some of the reward from the quality documentary programming Frontline produces and is aired on Panhandle PBS.
http://www.current.org/2014/07/knight-foundation-grants-750000-to-three-public-media-projects/
Boston’s WBUR-TV and the Public Media Co. also will receive $250,000 from the Knight Foundation.
The Knight Foundation said in a news release: “’In order to succeed, public media organizations must respond to new audience demands and discover ways to engage a diverse group of supporters, beyond their traditional following,’ said Michael Maness, Knight Foundation vice president of journalism and media innovation, in a statement. ‘These projects will help create shareable lessons within the public media space, and help organizations explore new innovations in business development and content creation.’”
How will Frontline use its quarter-million dollar grant? Here’s how the Knight Foundation described it: “Frontline will use its grant to engage younger audiences through a new YouTube series. That video streaming platform ‘allows us the flexibility’ to tell a story in different formats, Raney Aaronson, deputy executive producer, told Current. ‘I don’t refer to these videos as short-form or long-form,’ she said. ‘I call them right-form.’ Videos in the series will highlight memorable moments from existing episodes or feature field footage from films under production. Others will tell ‘original stories, distinct in format and style from our broadcast.’ The overall goal, Aaronson said, ‘is to reach a young, passionate audience with reporting on topics they care about deeply, and open the door to further exploration of our films.’”
Frontline is produced by WGBH-TV, the public television station based in Boston. It hits top-of-mind news topics and issues head on — and hard. It asks the tough questions and seeks often-complicated answers.
It serves the cause of public television well and we’re fortunate to have it broadcast in the Texas Panhandle.
Congratulations, Frontline.
